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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Oh Governor, Where Art Thou?

Within 12 days of the Chicago Tribune’s initial article about an admissions scandal at the University of Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn was on the case.

Yet, when faculty members at Chicago State University urged Quinn in April to intervene in a presidential appointment they say smacked of cronyism, the governor took no formal action.

Christopher Mooney, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois’s Springfield campus, says it’s difficult to separate race from any political decision in Illinois. But race and the politics of race are never simple, and how lawmakers and the governor reacted -- or didn’t react -- to Chicago State illustrate that complexity, he says.

Mooney's comments were featured on the Inside Higher Ed website on October 1, 2009.